LAFAYETTE – The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Softball team opened its preseason practice schedule for the upcoming 2023 season on Monday, January 9 at Yvette Girouard Field at Lamson Park.
On their first day back from winter break the Ragin’ Cajuns gathered for a mid-afternoon practice period, signaling the start of a series of sessions the squad will conduct the remainder of January and then into early February leading up to the start of the season which begins Feb. 10-12 with the 37th Annual Louisiana Classics at Lamson Park.
“We are extremely excited to be back together as a team,” head coach Gerry Glasco said. “We have ultra-smart, competitive student-athletes who understand the importance of this season and the opportunities that the extremely competitive schedule provides to our program.
“Their approach to the season has been both exciting and exhilarating to watch from a coaching standpoint,” Glasco said. “And, we expect that to reach another level in these coming weeks.”
The Ragin’ Cajuns (47-13, 23-4 SBC in 2022) are set to spend the first week getting back into game shape and settling into their spring semester classes, which begin on Wednesday, January 11, before holding their first set of weekday scrimmages on Wednesday, January 18 and Thursday, January 19 and first set of weekend scrimmages Saturday-Sunday, January 21-22.
“We are the healthiest going into spring practice than any other spring practice since I have been here,” Glasco stated. “The mixture of underclassmen and upperclassmen athletes has created a high-energy, ultra-competitive environment for us.
“Our pitching staff is healthy, and every single pitcher is full go at this time,” Glasco added. “The competitive excitement that the group is bringing is also really encouraging.”
As he heads into Year No. 6 guiding the Ragin' Cajuns, the three-time defending Sun Belt regular season and tournament champions, Glasco aims to continue molding his influx of young talent - the bulk from the No. 1 recruiting class that debuted in Spring 2022 - into a strong and durable national postseason contender.
In the 2022 season, Glasco directed and mentored a lineup that featured at most two upperclassmen and as many as five freshmen, and developed them into a championship and NCAA Tournament team. Despite the youthfulness, Louisiana advanced to Championship Sunday of the NCAA Clemson Regional.
Fast forward to now, and the youthful Ragin' Cajuns group is a year wiser and still has many other veteran pieces in place to form a dangerous combination.
The three key pieces to last season's pitching success remain intact (Meghan Schorman, Kandra Lamb, and Sam Landry) and all but two starters in the lineup return headlined by leading home run hitters Alexa Langeliers and Karly Heath (13 each), leading run-producer Stormy Kotzelnick (51 RBI), top hitter for average Jourdyn Campbell (.392) and stolen-bases leader Maddie Hayden (28-of-34).
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